Elastic foundation garment



Aug. 30, 1960 o. ERTESZEK 2,950,713

ELASTIC FOUNDATION GARMENT med Aug. 3, 1959 I16. 2. 7 Q A IN V EN TOR.

Bywwf q United States Patent Ofifice 2,950,718 Patented Aug. 30, 1960 ELASTIC FOUNDATION GARNIENT Olga Erteszek, 7915 Haskell Ava, Van Nuys, Calif.

Filed Aug. 3, 1959, Ser. No. 831,216

6 Claims. (Cl. 128542) This invention relates generally to improvements in foundation garments in the class of elastic body girdles either of the regular or panty'type, of which the former may be taken as illustrative for purposes of describing the invention.

My general object is to provide a new and improved girdle construction which achieves all the required functions of supporting and shaping the body of the wearer while minimizing unnecessary confinement and thus affording exceptional freedom and comfort, particularly in and about the waist.

Concerning the front of the garment, the invention contemplates a waist shape and extent that allows freedom for movement and unnecessary restraint, while giving proper abdominal support, by shaping the waist edge to extend downwardly and inwardly from the sides of the girdle to a central location of substantial convergence, preferably Where the Waist is partially occupied by a central panel, all as later described.

The invention is more particularly concerned with the rear of the garment and in relation to the front as characterized above, toward greatest relaxation of confinement at the back of the waist, while maintaining that full support below the waist that is required for proper shaping of the wearer. Accomplishment of this object has presented the structural problem of maintaining that support while leaving a degree of openness at the back of the waist, which extends substantially below the front openness provided by sloping waist edges.

In accordance with the invention, the waist of the girdle is defined by a longitudinally elastic piece or band which may be of substantially uniform width, and which slopes inwardly from the sides at both front and rear of the garment but to a considerably greater extent or depth at the rear, thus to give correspondingly increased openness and comfort at the waistline. The essential support and confinement below are given the wearer by the elastic fabric of the garment and the action of the band in transmitting from its higher front section, forces to the lower rear that exert a lifting and confining effect to a degree that will permit the desirable openness at the Waist.

All the features and objects of the invention, as well as the details of a preferred, though illustrative embodiment, will be understood more fully from the following detailed description of the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the girdle;

Fig. 2 shows the girdle in rear elevation;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on line 33 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a fi'agmentary enlarged section on line 44 of Fig. 1.

The body of the girdle, generally indicated at 10, is shown to comprise front side panels 11 sewed at the edges 12 to rear panels 13, all of which are made of woven elastic fabric stretchable both vertically and horizontally. The upper front waistline of the garment converges at 14 from the sides to substantial convergence 15 at the center of the waist, the resulting dipped configuration afiording desirable relief from straight-across confinement at the waist. At the rear of the garment the Waist edge 16 slope downwardly and inwardly from the sides to substantial convergence at 17, a location below the front point 15 of convergence, a considerable distance within the range of from one to four inches, preferably in the order of about three inches.

The degree and extent of openness thus presented at the back of the waist presents the problem of aifording that degree of lifting support as well as confinement about the body of the wearer, that will permit and compensate for the waistline openness.

In accordance with the invention, the girdle is provided with a Waistband 18 made preferably of elastic fabric stretchable longitudinally and in which the elastic threads parallel the course of the band and are disposed angularly to the generally horizontally extending elastic threads in the panels 11 and 13. The latter are sewed to the band 18 along the seam lines 19 and 20 and the band preferably is lined within its upper edge by a tape 21 of soft elastic and longitudinally stretchable material. The body of the garment preferably includes a front central panel 22 made of elastic fabric stretchable vertically with little horizontal stretchability, and a rear panel 23 formed using double thicknesses of the same elastic fabric of which the side panels 11 and 13 are made. Front panel 22 is sewed to the side panels at 24 and extends to the waistline so that it intersects and is sewed to the waistband 18 along lines 25. The rear panel 23 extends centrally below the lower convergence of the waistband, to the bottom of the girdle as shown in Fig. 2.

In the worn and stretched condition of the garment, the waistband 18 is tensioned and caused to exert in addition to its body confinement, a lifting effect upon the panel 23 and the attached side panels 13, the force transmission occurring from the higher front extents 18a of the band so that the tensioned balance tends to confine and flatten the abdomen at the front, and give lifting support at the rear, which elfects, together with the elastic confinement afforded by the body as a whole, assures proper shaping of the wearers body with full freedom for movement allowed the waist.

I claim:

1. A gridle comprising a body formed of elastic fabric and including a waistband longitudinally elastic substantially throughout its length and forming the top edges of the garment, the upper front edges of the front extent of the waistband sloping downwardly and inwardly from the sides of the garment to convergence at the center of the garment and the upper edges of the band extending across the rear side of the garment sloping downwardly and inwardly from the sides of the garment to a central convergence location a substantial distance below said convergence of the front edges of the band, the rear extent of the band affording freedom and uplifting support for the back of the wearer by reason of the elastic tension'mg of the band from its higher side and front extent, and said body including horizontally and vertically elastic fabric extending from said band at the rear of the garment to the bottom thereof and adjacent its sides.

2. A girdle according to claim 1, in which said band is of substantially uniform width.

3. A girdle according to claim 1, in which said central convergence location of the top edges of the band at the rear of the garment is between 1 to 4 inches below the top central edge of the garment at the front.

4. A girdle according to claim 1, in which the body has a front panel intersecting the front center of said band and a rear central panel made of elastic material starting adjacent the band and continuing to the Bottom of the garment.

5. A girdle according to claim 2, in which the body has a front panel intersecting the front center of said band and' a rear c'e'ntr'al panel inade cf elasticmaterial stertingadjacent'the band and continuing to the bottom of the gamment. 6. A girdle according :to' claim 3,-in Which' the bedy has 'a; from: panel intersecting the front center 6f :said

band and a rear central panel made of elastic material starting adjacent the band and continuing-to thebottom of the garment.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

